How To Make Realistic Rivers - Cities Skylines Tutorial

Do you struggle with making realistic rivers in Cities Skylines. Well struggle no more with this easy to follow real-time tutorial.
In this tutorial we'll learn how rivers work, where to place spawn points, how to control the waterflow, and who to add realistic detailing.
Remember SimCity? Well, now you have the even better Cities Skylines, where you can play your own city on a map, or you could have many towns on a map, because that is where this Cities Skylines episode will take you. I will fly you through some of the best maps in Cities Skylines, made by creators like you, and I will show you whether this map is the perfect map for you. Forget SimCity4, the world has moved on. The world's best city building simulation game is now Cities Skylines.
Today's Mods Link:
Map - Houkura Island with wave system by MrMiyagi
steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Extra Landscaping Tools by Bloody Penguin
steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Highlighted Video Link:
Why do rivers curve by MinuteEarth
• Why Do Rivers Curve?
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Tags: Cities Skylines, Sim City, What Map, Map Review, Asset Review, BonBonB, Bon Bon B, Gameplay, Tutorial, guide to, how to, making realistic rivers

[@rstarks1125]

How to detail Rivers ( in depth) should be a tutorial you could do. Everyone thinks it's just plopping Flora and it's a lot more than just that. The actual Speed of the water and the surroundings plays a major part in how things around the River adapt to it.

[@solidsnaker1992]

Like faster water around a bend may cause less vegetation in the water than in calmer water?

[@rstarks1125]

@@solidsnaker1992 yes exactly like that

[@johnterpack3940]

Nice tip about using a bunch of small sources. I mentioned "the River Tool" mod in another video just moments ago. But it certainly bears mentioning again here. I'd let the water find the route and use the river tool to carve the basin. Might still have to fine-tune it manually, but could save a bit of time and effort.

[@certaindeath7776]

i usually terraform a spring into the mountains (just completele flatten a part into the mountain) , where i spawn water with strenght about 0,1-0,25, with a very low water level, and then terraform the flattened part so, that its as narrow as possible at the spring, and naturally connects to the mountain. From there i try to keep a stream as narrow as possible, without getting water flow stopped. several springs connect to a river. for every spring that connects, the river gets a bit wider. (just a rule of thumb, depending on terrain a river may be deeper then wider, your call as a creator). With the strenght above and several springs connecting, there is usually no need for further water spawns, but sometimes a spawn where springs meet in the mountains gives better control for a constant strenght water flow. i only add in more water spawns downstream from there, when the water gets wobbly, but i want to have perfect control over the water height for my detailing (that often happens in meandering rivers with gentle river banks.... the water physics seems to perefere the collossal vanilla map style trench formed river banks, that look so ugly), but i try to avoid that. You have to know, that a water spawn sucks in incoming water, thats above the water level you set, and spills out new one at the water level. for wider rivers, you need a bigger water strenghts, which gives more radius. i try to avoid downstream water spawns, because there may be players, which want to reroute a river, or suck one dry or watever. if there is a water spawn with very high water level every hundred metres, that might be inconvinient for the player in my opinion.

[@Hoodat_Whatzit]

I like it! I think many of us suffer from the problem of having a preconceived idea of where our rivers should go and then we tend to force them to go there. By the way, I'm surprised you didn't include more bits about hiding the water source "starting points" with foliage or rocks and such. Although keeping the spawn point at 0.001 certainly makes those points more believable.

[@nanfredman1991]

YAYifications! The long-awaited river tutorial!!! This is lovely. I did know about using multiple tiny water sources, but had not gotten as far as experimenting with the terrain to let *it* teach me where the river should go. 😊 The main thing is to start with a map that has been *eroded* using a fractal algorithm. I use World Machine (because I started with Vue) but there are other digital terrain erosion programs out there that will start with your sculpted height map and give you an eroded version back.

[@leejones4497]

Brilliant tutorial! Thank you! Has inspired me to make my own map with water flowing off higher terrain and eventually a river meandering to the sea, with less turbulence than the rivers in the vanilla maps. Thanks again.

[@bcukdannage]

Hard to say for tips! My last map (Lockett Bay) had four rivers feeding into the bay, one of them was lovely and easy to make using the sloping brush all the way down the side of one hill, but the river on the next hill over I literally completely removed and replaced nearly at the -end- of the map. Oh, yeah, so I guess to that point, I wold recommend rivers are the -second- thing any map maker puts on their map. 1. General Landscape 2. Rivers 3. Roads 4. Rails 5. Trees and rocks 6. Details This is my first tip to avoid drowned trees. My second tip is to only ever use the tiniest of brushes when adding trees near riverbanks, as BonBon hates trees in the water. :)

[@BonBonB]

Save our trees

[@nanfredman1991]

I completely concur with your priority list, having come to the same conclusion.

[@haraaspe]

Another great tutorial from my fav. BonBonB :). I'm currently working on my second map, and this river tips makes me go back and refine my rivers, thank you!!

[@EurocatGames]

Outstanding! I was having massive issues working with the water feature in map editor, and this helped immensely!!!

[@BonBonB]

Glad I could help :-)

[@V1489Cygni]

Came looking for a tutorial on the slope tool, got something much better instead. Thanks a lot, man! I didn't even know the kind of help I needed and you still delivered

[@BonBonB]

Glad I could help!

[@ZeroDivide]

Great tutorial, and very enjoyable to watch the process from start to finish! One of the great points you highlight in this video is the use of very small brush settings. I use similar methods myself, although I've never actually thought of going to such a low setting (0.1 is my goto setting)... will have to try that! :D

[@BonBonB]

That 0.001 I learned from the comments in a previous video. Credit to the Buddies.

[@scottd7594]

That was an immensely helpful tutorial, thank you.

[@BonBonB]

:-)

[@alexandersteinmetz6857]

offtopic- i always start to sway in my compseat to your inrto music(50yrs old grumpy), my wife is laughing all the time;) great vid as always.

[@BonBonB]

Hahaha, glad you can still jive :D

[@sethwilliamson]

Excellent tutorial! I'd add that water flows change direction for a reason. Water follows the path of least resistance. So, when adding the details, keeping this fact in mind can help inform your choice of props or how you modify the terrain. Considering _why_ the river turned and decorating the landscape accordingly can really add to realism. Was there a rocky outcrop of land or some sort of obstruction that it had to divert around? Was there a sandy bit that was an enticingly easy patch to erode? It was harder to keep going straight / easier to bend for a reason. Build that reason. :)

[@DannyKezar]

Best tutorial for making rivers I've seen. Can't wait to try my new found knowledge. I been doing it ALL wrong. 😆👍🏻

[@BonBonB]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DrAngelikaHasenbein]

I feel like rivers emerging from mountains are very hard to do, given the scale of the maps. I'd keep it to small brooks and prefer to have water come from the edges of the map.

[@BonBonB]

Yes, absolutely. In Saint Catherine's Point my main river is literally a river mouth, and the wetlands a series of brooks. But I wanted to show how easy it is to get waterflow and convergence, and Miyagi's map was perfect for this.

[@moesanrath]

damn i never cease to be amazed when bonbon does a tutorial

[@BonBonB]

Thanks. Honestly though, this was the third attempt. I've probably spent 6 hours trying to record this. I'm still not happy, and there are things I didn't cover. But overall this was the first attempt that was useable.

[@mdnght_crttr]

Man I'm late but on console the editor just came out and this video is absolutely awesome.

[@mikepalmer2219]

Thanks for tis video it was very helpful.

[@uibsen]

Great video !!!

[@knockshinnoch1950]

This is an excellent tutorial Bon Bon. Clear and concise practical step by step guide. I do hope that the Official Cites Skylines YT channel give a feature at some point in the future!

[@BonBonB]

I'm not worthy :-)

[@nanfredman1991]

@@BonBonB Yes you are!

[@plutonian2770]

I don't get how you're underrated yet you make quality content Edit: Those rivers merging was so satisfying. I suggest a whole video consisting of it? It'd make my day :) Btw, what textures, vegetation and lighting do you use?

[@jimskam]

Great tutorial. I love the multiple layers on the river that is fully decorated on both shorelines. It is a question I have with any map making - that looks wonderful. Do I do it sparingly, or down the entire river? Technical skill v artistic talent

[@Grazysworld]

Verry good BonBonB you have a tallent for it...

[@shaneintheuk2026]

I love this idea. Your tutorials are some of the most inspiring available. 1) In your time reviewing maps have you seen some temperate/European maps with really good streams and rivers? I'd love a recommendation. 2) Do you keep an index of all the maps you review with rating, theme, contents, comments, etc? If so where can I find it? Thank you for creating these and I hope CO recognize your contribution to keeping us playing the game and buying DLCs.

[@BonBonB]

Hey Shane The best list I can offer is the What Map map list. It contains a lot of information, such as topographic type, asset load, link to the What Map review and workshop page, etc. It doesn't contain any ratings, which would effectively kill my channel overnight. There have been many good temperate maps, but honestly, having seen over a thousand, and with old age creeping up, trying to recall individual details from any map is a struggle. A couple of quick ways of isolating the really good maps would be to watch the Viewer's Choice Top Ten playlist, where you get the top maps as voted by the community, and a brief flyover of the top five each month; or any of my Map of the Year series, where I pick out my outstanding 12 maps from the year. Just go to my main YT page and look through the playlists :-)

[@KamramBehzad]

Fan-bloody-tastic.

[@luca_fiorini]

THIS is helpful 😁 I really struggle with rivers!

[@BonBonB]

Struggle no more

[@Justyburger]

A nice tutorial, even though it has not strictly helped with what i specifically wanted. I'm trying to make very thin streams that run well. I wish there was a "no evaporation Mod". I did a search and could not find one in the Workshop. The only thing i can do is keep placing rows of small water spawners and try to create a deeper but thin stream groove. I need to make them as thin as the thin canals, but in the Map Editor. I have taken the Forest Patch tip though. Thanks Bon Bon.

[@BonBonB]

That's pretty much how I'd make a thin stream.

[@bcukdannage]

Ooh, I thought 0.01 was the smallest! huzzah!

[@luca_fiorini]

I did too!

[@brimstone5931]

A lot of good advice here, my attempts so far are abysmal

[@Jake_Stevens]

Anyway to do this on ps4? I don't see a place to make a water source (like what you did out of the mountains) thanks!

[@CandiRabbit]

Do you phave a playlist for your tutorials? These are amazing, And I wanna find more of them, I didn't see one, and I maybe have just overlooked it. But you have the best, most informative, and most interesting way of explaining things.

[@BonBonB]

Thanks Candy Rabbit. Yes I have. It'll take you a while to watch them all :-) kzbin.info/aero/PLOdJfwm1gxpgvm1d6FOkKCdzphwsc8d2A

[@blagoevski336]

Nice

[@BrycenStone]

I like the Forest Patch cluster you used but I can't find it on the Steam Workshop. Did you make it? Thanks.

[@douglasfinn3130]

Not a noob to C:S - but I've learned a thing or two. didn't know a water spawn point could have a value of less than .01 - hah! Nice! Thanks...

[@explicitnerdity1994]

How to get the water tool? I only have landscaping tool

[@kymourdarkmyth799]

thank you.

[@BonBonB]

:-)

[@WarcraftIsForVirgins]

Great How to! Have you ever considered a How to on Mountain Building? I know mine always end up looking like big hills.They just dont look natural like the mountains on this map.

[@BonBonB]

Yes. But it is some time away from happening.

[@WarcraftIsForVirgins]

@@BonBonB Excellent..better later than never!

[@plutonian2770]

@BonBonB nice

[@starshall96]

I had never had any inclination to make or even edit a map for my own usage... that is until now. Even if it just to mess around with the water physics and never to plot so much as a road.

[@Preirin]

I appreciate the tutorial - thank you. And I'm sorry - all I can imagine is Richard Ayoade giving this tutorial :D Which isn't a bad thing...

[@BonBonB]

Hahaha yep, all us Brits sound alike :D

[@tattoobobgames8331]

One question. How or with what mod can i use the water source? Im play it in my pc and dont the water source. Can someone help me?

[@BonBonB]

Link is in the description of the video.

[@momochangames]

BonBonB do you have a mod list for what you use when you make maps? :P Starting my first map and feeling like the base stuff just isn't quite enough lol

[@BonBonB]

Crikey, now there's a question. A year since I was making my last map. Let me think... Move It for fine positioning and adjustments. Find It for finding the right prop/asset. I placed all my trees using Move It's copy feature, but would probably use Forest Brush now. Grab Extra Landscaping Tools, not sure if they add anything in the editor, perhaps a few new brushes. But like with anything, the mods you need depend on what you want to acheive. Note: not all mods work in the editor.

[@momochangames]

@@BonBonB Yeah I am finding that out with trial and error. I don't think my Extra Landscaping Tools are working so I am trying to sort that out. I see in your video you have a bit more stuff for your water source then what mine is doing. Thanks for the list BonBonB

[@MrCalland]

I'm trying to make streams I cant get them small enough and tips to make them smaller

[@BonBonB]

Water source setting of 0.001 (you have to type this by hand). Add extra sources along the route to keep the stream alive.

[@dingus_doofus]

Just add some happy little strokes here and there.

[@Meesmoth]

What if creating rivers on real-life mountain areas with the use of terrain.party? I am planning to build Baguio City, Philippines at 1,500 meters above sea level with only rivers going down stream.

[@Meesmoth]

Does this guide covers real-life maps as well? Real-life mountains should be realistic as they are from real-life heightmaps.

[@hendrikdejong1971]

Just a warning - maps from terrainparty are VERY difficult to make them look good. To be very honest: CS is not suitable for a 1:1 map ... you need to allow yourself to "cheat", and not insist on 1:1 everywhere - and that includes the heights of mountains, as with terrainparty they are a bit awkward and can look unrealistic and ugly , and don't make your map look very good. Oh - and, use the smoothen tool and other landscape tools a lot to make your maps look more realistic. Good luck!

[@Meesmoth]

Ik, I always use the soften tool a lot. I saw this one build from my friend Gilbert who didn't do it, and I saw very steep slopes that is worse than San Francisco's, while the real-life counterpart is entirely flat.

[@hendrikdejong1971]

@@Meesmoth Ah good! :-)

[@jackmerrill8424]

This could be the whole game. Nevermind the city

[@kennethtomlinson7015]

I would love a realistic mountain tutorial. Mine always look like jagged blobs.

[@BonBonB]

It is on the long list of tutorials to make. This one will take a long time to make, like this rivers tutorial. The show might only be a few minutes but the planning and testing took time, and this was actually the third take, spread over about a month. Keep watching, and if I can get around to mountains I will

[@kennethtomlinson7015]

@@BonBonB thanks for the reply. I love your channel.

[@haraaspe]

I have a question, how to make the river come from "outside the map"? I'v tried to put the watersource close to the edge, but it runs out of the map(partly, depends on terrain ofc) and did not give me the effect I'd like.

[@BonBonB]

Yes. I think this has to be my next tutorial. Probably won't have time for a few weeks but it's on the list.

[@bcukdannage]

If memory serves have a look at Episode 1 or 2 from map making playlist and there's a bit where bonbon has water rolling off map edge.

[@haraaspe]

Thnx, that wil be great :) I'll have a look at the first episodes again anyway ;).

[@haraaspe]

you were absolutely right, in the end of the first episode :)

[@bcukdannage]

@@haraaspe I don't get out much, clearly... :D

[@brodiehomewood]

Do i need a dlc to add water on console because i dont think can add water

[@BonBonB]

For PC there's a mod which allows water placement in game, which won't be available on console. I don't have console so can't check, but if you have the map editor you will be able to place spawn points there. Good luck

[@brodiehomewood]

Ok thank you

[@MikeLuzawski]

I feel like this is a natural geographic documentary. Lol great job

[@arjandenbesten6786]

Very good tutorial. But i run in to a problem when making rivers. I can get them to work just fine but there is always the problem of creating gloopy rivers. Its like mallases is running though the river banks and every once in a while you get a big blob of water. I looks unrealistic although i can mostly contain it in riverbanks. My question is if you can do a video explaining how to counter-act gloopy rivers. Because i do not know what exactly is causing it. It seems to be an effect of steep riverbanks. Or maybe a water spawnpoint issue(to many or wrong size or wrong intensity). I also found its most hard to do wright when trying to merge multiple small rivers into a single larger stream. The gloopyness of the water also causes some breaks in continious waterflow and it forces me to use more spawnpoints. Also if rivermouths are a bit higher than sealevel it is a problem. Because changing the depth of the river at the delta area screws with the whole flow of the river above it. I used this map: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405821071&searchtext=byzantium The map is mostly hilly. My aim was to create some streams where they are in real life Istanbul at the end of the golden horn inlet area and one stream wich used to be in the city but now is dried out. I want to thank you for the help this an your other tutorials have provided because it really helps allot.

[@BonBonB]

Yep, I want to do a follow up on rivers. Just finding the time is the tough part. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, if I can. Rest assured, it's one of the top priorities for me.

[@arjandenbesten6786]

​@@BonBonB Maybe use my map as an example? But i think i need to publish it first. Because i dont know if i can send it without doing that. LOL im still a potato at this modding thing :D Let me know if you want the map im working on or you already have something lined up wich shows it. Great job on the channel dude. All the best to you.

[@Erispedia]

Wanted to play some sandbox games for fun... get better understanding of nature than going to class.

[@likilala]

How to add water option, bcoz my CS have no that option?

[@BonBonB]

You need to subscribe to the mod in the description. If you are on console you won't be able to do this.

[@likilala]

@@BonBonB Ohh ic..tq..👍

[@kea7015]

Which map do you think has the best rivers?

[@BonBonB]

So many maps, can't even start to think. I could try to mention one, and then realise there are ten more I'd rather have said.

[@nanfredman1991]

Look to Sidai, certainly. He has a good feel for them.

[@yoota933]

Noice

[@BonBonB]

:-)

[@yoota933]

@@BonBonB :3

[@atiadjt]

My river is always flooded! It's coming from the mountains

[@eastpavilion-er6081]

Nice tutorial. Buy my map - and my real life counterpart of the map - is horrendously flat. There's no way to run a river from a mountain.

[@BonBonB]

I'll add a "Making working rivers on flat maps" tutorial to my to-do list.

[@nanfredman1991]

You don't have to have a mountain! Just the tallest hill or bump.

[@User_10848]

Are useing mods ?

[@BonBonB]

Only one more necessary, as shown in the description

[@tr0mp577]

It is funny how you call this "Realistic rivers" and then let your river drop severel meters in a short distance... Most rivers should only have a height difference of severel meters troughout the whole map - your drop 40 Meters in 1 kilometer or so... Why should a river spring be in the map? The Rhine travels trough dozens of large cities - you could make a lot of maps out of that - just going straight -ish through the map...

[@BonBonB]

River straight through the map, I said this was okay right at the start. As for the drop, its the map I was working from. The scaling (all those mountains in an 18x18 km means that even the mountain streams are in real terms many metres wide. I chose this map as it was perfect for showing river convergence, and obtaining water flow from gravity, two issues I see fails on time and time again. This was my third recording of this tutorial, the first two were prettier and more 'accurate', but in terms of showing basic mechanics they were unusable.

[@tr0mp577]

@@BonBonB I take a different approach - I see rivers as means of transport and trade - food and leisure. The easthetics are for me less important the details and gameplay of a river :-D

[@Hoodat_Whatzit]

Oooh... if my first map in progress ever sees the light of day... stay far far away from it please. You will hate it. LOL Let's just say I learned my lesson about starting with terrain party and leave it at that. ::sigh::

[@bcukdannage]

Hoodat Whatzit apparently I appear to have learned enough from the Whatmap series to be average at it. If you want any help let me know. (But you're probably better than me!)

[@Hoodat_Whatzit]

@@bcukdannage Well, I followed the tutorial on the workshop but then I ended up changing almost everything anyway. My map has a pretty big change in heights from one end of the map to the other. I think I've fumbled my way through it to make what I have now not too horrendous but there are things I would do differently if I was starting from scratch now.. that's for sure. But hey, that's what First Maps are for right? (One day, I'll actually finish it.. I haven't edited my map in nearly a month I think.)